TT needs sponsors and more stadia
As Sri Lanka is preparing for the next south Asian games in 2013 and the Commonwealth Games, table tennis is one of the sports to be developed in order to gain medals at the above games. This is the opinion of former national player and the current Vice President and Chairman Coaching and Development Committee of the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka (TTASL) Manzil Muthalib,
According to Muthalib who has been in the Sri Lanka TT scene for many years as a player, manager, selector, and administrator, a long term sponsor for TT is a must for the development of the game.
The Government and Sports Ministry can do quite a lot for the betterment of TT, says Muthalib.
“TT is a sport where Sri lanka can win medals at international level. This has been proved by our junior players, who have participated and won medals in tournaments abroad. But when it comes to a higher age level players are not good enough to win internationally and rake in the medals”, says Muthalib.
According to Muthalib, Sri Lanka has not yet started preparing for the South Asian Games to be held this year. “This is a popular sport judging by the number of entries received for each tournament. About 700 enter to participate in an all island tournament. This is done despite the Table Tennis Association (TTASL) not having a permanent place to conduct tournaments. During the late 1990s we had the National Savings Bank as our main sponsor. Since then the TTASL had to find sponsors randomly for each and every tournament. A long term national sponsorship is a must to develop the sport,” stressed Muthalib.
The Sports Ministry has to help find a permanent sponsor for TT so that a permanent office and training halls with updated facilities could be found to develop the sport further, said Muthalib.
Continuing Muthalib added, “Table Tennis is one sport in which Sri Lanka could reach international standards provided the young paddlers are given the proper guidance with the necessary facilities which are so essential.
“A lot of meaningful steps have been taken recently and this has resulted in the improvement of the standards which augurs well for the future.
We have already started table tennis in the North and East. When compared with schools in other districts, it is much easier to popularise the game in Vavuniya and Jaffna. School children in these areas have so much of free time but fewer opportunities to participate in sports activities. Our focus is to bring them into table tennis tournaments in Colombo.
“With great effort we have introduced the game to Vavuniya and Jaffna. The grant of 1,500 TT tables to school over the island has greatly popularized the sport in these areas.
“Even children in the North and East will ultimately benefit from this grant. We have been conducting regular training sessions in Jaffna and Vavuniya,” pointed out Muthalib.